Finding Hope: A Rainy Day
by Monica Woodfairy
Summary: James is trying hard to impress Lily, she is softening but just wont budge, until one rainy day when a friendly hand is there to catch her heart and her. LJ bit of fluff.


**This one shot, is actually for a contest on I'm unsure if I should give this one or my other entry titled.  
"Get what you want" I'm so unsure, and I was hoping for you guys to tell me which one you like, I'm looking for reviews also on just what ya think, I worked really hard and I just want to try it out. **

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A boy with short black hair, amazing hazel eyes, and pale skin sat in his four-poster bed.

He played with the sleeve of his gray sweat shirt, puling strings from the end.

He set there with a joyful expression, but inside he was killing himself. It was his seventh year, he was turned head boy, he had the best three friends anyone could, but one small thing was missing; a girl, a beautiful, smart, witty, fiery, loud mouthed girl, also known as Lily Evans.

It was mid-March and James Potter was lying in a ball in his bed. Remus, Sirius and Peter were out by the lake torturing Snape- Which James at the moment declined from- While he was in his dormitory, only twenty feet away from Lily's.

Yes, Lily Evans had been made head girl, and James was sharing a common room with her, meaning she was only steps away from his grasp, but even so he had no chance.

Although he knew it was very unlikely that he would get Lily, James tried and tried and tried again, he promised himself that his year he would take a different approach from his usual cocky attitude, he would try to act – as Lily said he never was- mature.

So far James had declined from torturing his favorite Slytherein-in public- Snape, he had yet to ask Lily out for an entire month, he took his duties as a responsible adult. He would greet her just as he would a teacher and act as polite as possible.

Although on the outside it seemed as though James was fine, in reality he was going insane, and he was madly in love with Lily Evans. Remus constantly telling him that he should give up, Sirius complaining that he wasn't the same, Peter wouldn't speak t him after he refused to help Peeves flood the second floor corridor.

James was in a frenzy about they way they were acting, but most of all he wanted Lily.

He needed Lily, he wanted Lily, he craved Lily, and he craved romance from Lily.

Sirius had once told James to "Give up and shag a Ravenclaw" but James never took to his advice, at least not on the matter of the heart- or Lily- Sirius was the last person to go to, switching girls like he did underwear. Remus has one steady girlfriend, for the past year: Monica Woodfairy. She was a nice girl, but James knew they wouldn't last longer than graduation. Peter had no love life, but he did have a very large crush on Sirius' cousin Bellatrix.

By the reputation of his friends, James didn't take much advice from them- although Remus was the most sensible, James just never took his advice- So most importantly James focused on what Lily told him he wasn't: Smart, kind, mature, sensible, and patient.

So James was being everything she claimed he could never be. So far his planned seemed to mildly shock Lily, she seemed a tad warmer towards him, but nothing near friendly.

After a good long thinking, James stood out of his bed to meet Lily in the common room to walk to a head's meeting together. Checking himself in a near by mirror before walking out- pushing his hair down- and walking out of the room.

-

Lily was setting on the large red sofa in the common room, her flaming red hair resting neatly on her shoulders as she crouched over a book.

'_She looks absolutely beautiful.'_

James took a seat next to her, her head slowly moved up now just noticing his arrival in the room. She had a smile on, an amused smile.

"Brush your hair did you?" She asked in a muffled voice as she covered her mouth not to laugh.

James nodded, running a hand through his hair to un-do the tidy look he had made for himself.

"Aw, you looked cute." Lily said with a giggle. "Like a first year."

James shrugged. "Thought you hated my hair messy?"

Lily shrugged her shoulders and smiled. "Sometimes you learn to live with things."

'_I wish you could learn to love me…'_

"James, please wipe the look of 'I'm madly in love with Lily' off you face." Lily said with a sigh.

James smiled. "I'm sorry, didn't mean to let that slip."

Lily giggled. "Of course you didn't."

James stood up extending his hand to her. "May I escort you to the head's meeting Lily Evans?"

Lily took his hand and nodded. "Oh, why not"

Opening the portrait hole and walking down the corridor hand in hand with Lily made James very nervous, excited, happy, scared, and confused.

"So, James…"

"Yes, Lily?"

"I've noticed you've been…"

"Different?"

"Yes." Lily said with a small laugh.

"And…?"

"Nothing really, just the improvement is… shocking" She said as they opened the door to the fourth floor corridor.

"Improvement, is it?"

"I would like to think so."

"So if it's an improvement, do you feel different-"

"No James!" Lily exclaimed laughing. "James, I do not, nor do I think I will ever fancy you!"

"Right, of course, Lily." James said with a sigh, he released her hand as the walked the rest of the way.

"James, I've heard from girls that you're '**hopelessly**' in love it with me" Lily said. "Is that true?"

"No Lily" '_I'm completely, and entirely in love with you, and I have all the hope in the world that we'll be together'_

Lily nodded and left that subject behind them. The rest of the walk was in silence, arriving at the prefects and head meeting; James noticed Remus and Monica were talking in whispers along with the rest of the prefects.

"What are you two gossiping about?" James asked setting next to Remus.

"Nothing," Monica replied for him, she did that a lot. "Nothing at all, Potter".

"Monica dear, I asked Remus" James said impatiently, he was very happy for Remus, he found himself someone almost exactly like himself, she was in Ravenclaw, she was sensible, and sarcastic.

James had no problem with her except, she was one of Lily's best friends, and James had to tiptoe around her, which was oh-so annoying. But luckily James controlled the temptation to speak ill of Monica- while she was around- because she would take it back to Lily.

"We were just talking James, nothing important" Remus said with a shrug.

"No point in asking you lot?" James said motioning to the other houses. They muttered in agreement. "Fantastic."

Lily took a seat next to Monica and the meeting began, although James seemed as though he was very interested asking questions and explaining duties, he was paying no attention what-so-ever, his eyes glued to Lily for long periods of time, hoping she wouldn't notice that he was staring, almost drooling.

All he could ask for was once chance, for Lily to say "Yes" and he would give her the world, the sun, the moon and the stars. Before James knew it the meeting was over and he was walking back to the dorm with Lily.

"Meeting went well" He said trying to break the silence.

"I suppose so, but Remus needs to be more assertive, he's too nice when giving detentions." Lily said with a sigh. "He needs to be more like… You"

"Me?" James asked lifting a hand to his chest.

"Yes, James you," Lily exclaimed. "I seen you give a detention to Becker last week, you did it the right way" Lily said with a blush. "I'm- I was proud of you."

James smiled. "Thanks, Lily."

"You're welcome."

They made their way back to the common room when James stopped. "I need to meet someone, I'll see you in the common room Lily"

Lily smiled, letting a string of red hair cover her eyes; she tucked it behind her ear and nodded. "Alright"

James planned on meeting Remus, somewhere on the grounds, where hopefully Monica would not be accompanying him, since tonight was his transformation.

Half way onto the grounds James spotted Remus, Sirius accompanied him.

"I thought you had a date tonight, Padfoot" Called James.

"I did, but I mean how many times can you shag Becker's sister in the astronomy tower?" Sirius said with a grin.

"I guess five is the limit" Shrugged Remus.

James chuckled. "Five, I thought it was eight?"

Sirius' grin widened. "We didn't shag, well not technically, I mean-"

"Spare us the details, Sirius" Remus cried raising a hand to Sirius' mouth.

The moon rose, Remus transformed, Sirius and James kept him a keep as usual.

Nothing more then usual happened, except Peter wasn't there to be found.

Some point as the sun rose, James and Sirius made their way back to the common room, leaving Remus to have a quiet rest in the shrieking shack.

At the stairs James and Sirius made their split and Sirius up to Gryffindor tower.

"Password" Asked the hag.

"Muggleborn" Sighed James sleepily.

Lily had picked the password as a reminder to James that she was not a pureblood and that his family wouldn't agree, but James consistently told her that his parents would not care, she believed him none and argued the point and the fact that she did not like him, the way he did her.

The portrait swung open and James walked in, only to find Lily asleep on the sofa.

Her hair was spread across her face and the red sofa, her hands wrapped around herself in a hug type of way, a smile on her lips- her red, full lips- and her eyes peacefully shut, she looked like an angel.

Her gray mini-skirt sliding up slightly showing her white thighs; James couldn't help but glance at them, his hand wanted to brush against them, but James resisted three months could not be wasted on one moment.

James poked Lily's side. "Lily," he whispered. "Wake up, go in your bed."

Lily shuffled a bit and her eyes shot open. "W-what"

James smiled. "Why did you fall asleep on the couch?"

"O-oh I fell asleep reading" She said standing up, James looked around and did not see a book; he thought it best not to ask.

"Well, you should get in bed" He said making his way to the stairs that led to his dorm.

"I-I know" Lily yawned. "Night James"

James waved behind him and opened the door; he quickly collapsed in his four-poster still fully clothed.

-

The next morning James woke up as groggy as ever. He showered and dressed and with out bothering to find Lily he went down to breakfast.

Taking a seat next to Remus and Sirius, James stuffed eggs and bacon into his plate.

"How are we today James?" Remus asked sleepily.

"Fantastic, my head is killing me and my eyes won't stay open." groaned James. "You"

"Just super" Sighed Remus."My head hurts. My arms and legs hurt and I feel bruised in places I didn't even know of"

Sirius laughed. "You two sound like two girls on their monthlies."

"Just a bit" said a familiar squeaky voice.

"Peter where were you?" Remus asked with a yawn.

Peter sat on the other side of Remus. "I-I had homework, too much to pass"

"That's unusual" Whispered James to Sirius.

Sirius nodded. "Well you're all ready for your NEWT aren't you…?"

"I-I guess S-so"

Breakfast was left at that and James made his way to his potions class with professor Slughorn, Lily was already there, taking notes and giggling with her favorite teacher.

The class went fairly well, professor Slughorn assigned the luck potion, which would be incredibly fun to use - not to make.

The rest of the day melted way, James paid not so much attention to his DADA lesson.

After all classes were over, James decided to take a walk by the lake.

Circling the black river, the ocean of evil as some called it, James thought about how it was almost nearing the end of his years at Hogwarts, graduation coming and Lily not in his grasp.

'_Maybe… you should just give up? No, you can't give up on something this important, when you want something this much, you have to stay at it; you have to have her… She's more than a new broom, she's your world'_

James was snapped back into reality as he felt something wet hit his face, it happened again letting James realize it was a **rain drop,** Before James could make his way back it was raining heavily and he was walking through puddles, almost slipping James saw Lily gathering her things from under an oak tree. The rain poured down on her head, as she made her way back, James was not far from her.

Trailing behind her he noticed she was making small slips and he knew she would come to fall.

--

_I can't believe it started raining so quickly, I didn't even get a moments notice!_

_I could have sworn I seen Potter somewhere around here- oh well- damn it! All this mud making me flail around, I must look ridiculous. _

_Why does it have to rain when I'm walking down hill? It's like Merlin has come done and said 'Lily Evans fall and make a fool of you', well I'm not going to fall, I hope that Snape falls- though he isn't around- look at the size of that puddle waiting for me at the bottom of this hill. _

--

James watched Lily closely, and as he suspected she slipped, she was about to fall face first into the very large puddle when he-

--

Caught me, thank the lord for who ever just caught me. I turn around to see- Potter?

He looks nervous, he looks so cute when's nervous- WRONG.

"T-thanks" Why am I stammering?

--

"You're welcome" James said coolly, as he pulled her away from the puddle, still holding her body.

"I-I have-"Lily tried but was failing horribly.

"Lily…"

"Yes, James?"

"I never thought about admitting this, because I never thought it would do any good" James sighed as he brushed the red hair from her eyes, the rain poured down and they were soaked.

--

"_I just- I always ask you out" Isn't that the truth. "And you always say no." I know. _

"_But see that's it, I just ask you out" He sighed, and that made no sense? "I- Lily, you're the most fiery, witty, loud mouthed, beautiful, smart and up tight girl I have ever met" What did he just say- loud mouthed. _

"_I-"James covered my mouth. "Wait"_

--

James' insides were churning. "I love you, I watch you and I get you and I love you, I need you because a day without you is the days that I have no reason for life"

Lily's eyes relaxed.

"I would never hurt you- never- and I want one chance to prove it" James said as he released Lily's mouth.

Lily smiled.

--

"_Chance" I said before the insensible, immature, hypocritical side of me that I never saw took over. _

--

Lily grabbed James' head and pulled him in for a kiss, her lips pressing against his was like a heaven for seen only by the angels, it felt more than good, but it felt right. She combed her hands through his hair as she slid her tongue through, shocking- and arousing- James.

Moment later she pulled away, with the most unreadable look.

"So, is that a yes?" James asked jokingly.

Lily kissed his cheek. "Yeah"

"I can't even think of a word for this moment." James said with a blissful sigh.

"I can." Lily said with a grin.

"What?"

"Surreal."

"Perfect."

James kissed her once more.

--

They walked back to castle and back up to their common room, dried off and on the sofa Lily confessed to James.

"You remember last night, when you asked me why I fell asleep on the couch."

"Yes."

"Well, I wasn't reading." She said with a smile.

"Oh really" James chuckled, "What were you doing?"

"I was- I waiting for you." She giggled, embarrassed.

James just smiled and cuddled her. "I've been waiting seven years for you to say that."

Lily kissed his neck and cuddled herself into his chest. "Corn ball!" She giggled.

"Thanks." James said sarcastically.

"Oh James Kiss me, please" Lily said in a mock begging voice.

"Stop being mendicant and I just might" He said with a chuckle as he leaned into to kiss her.

'_Everything thing was hopeless, until one rainy day, when Lily and James found themselves snogging in the rain' _

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**Tell me what you thought, I beg you, if you guys review, I was thinking about making this an actual FanFiction a very long one with LOTS of chapters, if I get enough reviews :)**


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